CHAPTER VIII.
Leyden's Painters, a Fanatic and a Hero Rembrandt of the Rhine--His early life at Leyden--Jan Steen--Jan van Goyen--Brewer and painter--Pictures for beer--Jan Steen's grave--His delicacy and charm--His native refinement--A painter of hands--Jan Steen and Morland--Jan Steen and Hogarth--The Red Sea--The Flood--Jan of Leyden--The siege of Muenster--Gigantic madness--Gerard Dou--Godfrey Schalcken--Frans van Mieris--William van Mieris--Gabriel Metsu--Beckford's satire--Leyden's poor pictures--The siege of Leyden--Adrian van der Werf.
Leyden was the mother of some precious human clay.

Among her sons was the greatest of Dutch painters, Rembrandt van Rijn; the most lovable of them, Jan Steen; and the most patient of them, Gerard Dou.
Of Rembrandt's genius it is late in the day to write, nor have I the power.

We have seen certain of his pictures at The Hague; we shall see others at Amsterdam.

I can add nothing to what is said in those places, but here, in Leyden (which has ten thousand stuffed birds, and not a single picture by her greatest son), one may dwell upon his early days and think of him wandering as a boy in the surrounding country unconsciously absorbing effects of light and shade.
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was born on July 15, 1606, probably in a house at the corner of the Weddesteg, near the Wittepoort, on the bank of the Rhine.

It was the same year that gave England _Macbeth_ and _King Lear_.